“You’re the one contradicting something factual.”
“Is there a reason you came over here to talk to me?” I felt like I was having a repeat of my conversation with Ryan. There was comfort in the quiet. I preferred it. I was already worried that my best friend, Jackie, hadn’t shown up yet. We’d decided early on to be roommates, and I couldn’t imagine why she wasn’t here already. It was unlike her. She was never late to anything. My teeth sank into my bottom lip. Hopefully, she’d just gotten held up.
“I still think we should have pushed harder to stay out of this place.” North slowed his long-legged pace so we could walk together. At five feet seven inches, I was short for a wolf, but tall compared to most human girls. If it weren’t for our family’s name, no one would have believed I belonged in the Wolf Born house.
I sighed. “This is where we need to be.” This wasn’t the first time he’d broached the subject.
“Why? I mean what do they teach here that we couldn’t teach ourselves?”
“You didn’t have to come.” I’d told him this on more than one occasion.
“Sure I did. We stick together. Just as we always have.” His eyes bore into mine. “And we always will.”
“One day you will have to accept that I can take care of my myself.” I softened my voice. I didn’t want to insult him, but he needed to let go. I might not be the strongest wolf physically, but I was smarter than just about anyone. I had great reflexes, and I could dodge trouble. I didn’t like to run from my problems, but sometimes it was the only way.
“I’ve never doubted you can do that.”
“Yeah?” It was my turn to raise an eyebrow.
“You just trust too much.” He veered to the right as we neared the student center that housed the dining hall. “You want to see the good in everyone.”
I laughed so hard I snorted. “Right.”
“You do. Whether you want to admit it or not.”
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” I was about to lose my cool, and that wouldn’t be good for either of us.
“Sure. Home.”
“This is our home August through May for the next four years. Might as well get used to it.”
“I guess so.” He shrugged.
“I’m hungry. Come if you want. If you’d rather mope, you’re doing it alone.” I headed through the student center doors.
I walked right over to the buffet line. From what I’d heard, the food was supposed to be decent, but it was also meat heavy. Most wolves liked meat. I wasn’t like most wolves. I wasn’t a full vegetarian, but I went for the more plant-based options when given a chance. Not to mention, my way of eating helped me steer clear of the blood that might attract the Wolf Bloods. Those half-vampires made me nervous.
I found a few options beyond the salad bar and took a seat at an empty table. Without needing to look, I knew North had sat down next to me. His tray hit the table with a thump, sending fries scattering everywhere.
I eyed the giant cheeseburger in front of him. Admittedly, it smelled kind of good.
“Enjoy your rabbit food, sis.” He picked up his burger and took a bite.
“I will. Thank you very much.” I took a nice bite of my salad. At least the academy got fresh produce. I’d learned not to correct his rabbit food comments; it always ended with him explaining that evolutionarily our kind needed meat. And then I’d go into the fact that we weren’t really wolves, but instead hybrids and therefore completely different. Neither of us ever changed the other’s mind, so it was really a waste of time to hash it out. Again.
“Hello, fellow Wolf Borns. Mind if I join you?” Dameon stood across the table from us.
“Uh, sure.” The dining hall was open to everyone, and I didn’t own the table. Plus, it wasn’t like there was anyone else we were saving the seats for.
“North and Nadia. Right?” He sprinkled an inordinate amount of salt on top of his fries.
I set my fork down. “I don’t believe we were formally introduced.”
“We didn’t need to be.” Dameon smiled. “I already knew.”
“Uh, because that isn’t sketchy?”
North raised an eyebrow at me. “It’s not sketchy.”
After his whole you-can’t-trust-people talk, he was playing things that way?
“Is everything okay?” Dameon looked between us.
“Yeah. Everything is fine.” North shot me a look. “Just siblings discussing things.”
“Twins are extremely really rare for wolves.” Dameon bit into one of his fries.
“We know.” I’d heard that line more than a few times before.
“Which means you two are special.”
“Rare does not necessarily equal special.” For some reason people struggled to understand that.
“Sure it does.” Dameon picked up his burger. “You two are very special.”
“I knew we liked you.” North grinned.
I glared at him. Why was he grinning at this guy? He never grinned. What the hell was going on here? I laughed dryly. “Really?” I pushed back my chair.
“You’ve barely touched your food.” Dameon pointed to my tray.
“I’ve lost my appetite.” I’d have to get something from the vending machine I’d noticed in the dormitory lounge later.
“Wait. I promise I’ll make this worth your time.”
“Make what worth my time?” I hesitated with my tray in my hands.
Dameon pushed his chair back from the table. “An alliance.”
“An alliance?” I repeated the words. “Why would we need an alliance?”
“Are you really asking that question?” He raised both eyebrows.
“Yes, I am really asking it.”
“I’d have thought a girl as smart as you would know the answer to that.” His lips twisted into a smirk.
“Pretend I'm not smart.”
He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “You haven’t sensed it?”
“Sensed what?” My skin prickled with unease.
“Run with me tonight.” He looked between us. “Both of you. I can show you.”
“I’ll pass.” I wasn’t buying whatever he was selling. “But North can do what he wants.” I walked away to dump my tray even though wasting food made me cringe.
I glanced at the other tables on my way out the door and caught Ryan’s eye. He looked momentarily surprised before he raised an eyebrow in greeting.
Weird first day.
* * *
As soon as the sun set, I headed outside. I had no interest in running with Dameon or breaking an academy rule, but I didn’t trust the guy enough to leave North on his own with him during a run. He may technically be my older brother, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t protect him.
The Lunar Academy strictly forbid shifting unless part of a sanctioned group, so by following I was about to break a rule on the first night. It didn’t bother me nearly as much as it should have. I was far more afraid of something happening to North, or more likely, him getting into a huge mess he couldn’t get out of.
Still, I hesitated at the edge of the woods, trying to come up with an alternative plan—any other sort of plan—besides having to shift. But I came up empty. Shifting and running was all there was. This was the only way to catch up to them fast enough.
Well, if I was breaking a rule, at least I would enjoy it.
I reached out for my wolf, loving the surge of power that came with letting her take over. My vision tunneled as my dominant form set in. And I ran.
It didn’t take long to catch North’s scent. It was the first scent I’d ever learned, and it was by far the easiest one for me to follow. It was both similar to mine yet different. Kind of the way we were. I ran after it, careful to keep some distance. I immediately caught the second scent. Dameon was here too. His scent was strong, like black licorice. My wolf snarled. I fell back, slowing my wolf’s pace. The last thing I wanted was for Dameon to catch me. I wouldn't let him think I cared at all about wh
at he was into. I needed to stay invisible.
The woods flew by as I continued. I picked up my pace as we neared the border of the school grounds. It was one thing to be breaking the shifting rule on campus, but to leave campus entirely while shifted was not a risk I wanted to take.
North’s trail continued ahead. The farther I ran, the more I worried about him. The fur on my back stood on end when I caught another scent. I wasn’t alone. I debated my options. If I stopped, there was a good chance I’d lose the trail. But if I kept going, I might get a surprise attack from behind. This might be a trap. I ran harder. If I were only following Dameon, I would have stopped, but North might be in danger. I pushed myself harder. I could feel the other wolf beside me now. I reached out and couldn’t find North’s scent. It was as if it had completely disappeared. But that was impossible.
I could feel the other wolf catching up to me. Before long, he or she would overtake me. I didn’t care. I couldn’t stop. I pushed harder and faster. Then, I lost my footing and tumbled down a slope. Damn it. Why was I being so clumsy? I recognized the dark, sweet scent before the wolf walked over. I hurried back to my wolf feet. It came as no surprise when the air shimmered and in the wolf’s place stood a very naked, and far too sexy, Ryan.
“Hey. Shift back. I need to talk to you.” Ryan was talking to me, but all I could do was ogle him. I was sick. What was I doing? Sure he was six feet of solid, and very sexy, muscle. That didn’t mean I needed to stare at him. I was no better than Lauren. “Come on, Nadia. Fast.”
I tried to find North’s scent again, but there was nothing. Not even a trace of Dameon’s sharp scent remained. I ignored Ryan and kept searching. They couldn’t have disappeared into thin air, but I didn’t see any other possibility. There was nothing here. Not even a disturbance in the leaves that covered the forest floor.
“Nadia, cut it out. Shift back. We need to talk.” Ryan’s expression was serious, and his tone matched.
Talk? What the heck could he possibly want to talk about? Did he know where North was? I ran behind some trees and shifted. I’d hidden my clothes back closer to the dorms. “What are you doing here?” I snapped. “How dare you follow me.”
“How dare I?” He put a hand to his chest. His bare chest. “What? I can’t run near you? Wolves are supposed to run in packs, you know.”
“Sure. But the two of us don’t make a pack. Not to mention, it’s against the rules to run without everyone else.”
“Yet you’re doing it.”
“You didn’t let me finish.” I made sure to stay hidden behind the trees. “Second, the woods are huge. You were running right next to me. Were you following me?”
“Following you? Because you aren’t full of yourself.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“You know what I mean.” The conversation was getting old, and I needed to find North. “And why don’t you get dressed? Or shift back to your wolf.”
“What? What is your issue with nudity? We’re wolves.”
“Yes. But that doesn’t mean I want you seeing me naked.”
“Unfortunately, I'm not seeing you naked right now.” He grinned.
“Yes, but I'm seeing you, so it’s still a problem.”
“For you maybe. Not for me.” He winked.
“Answer me, then.” I averted my eyes from his lower half. I really didn’t need to see how big that part of his anatomy was.
“Answer what? Why I’m naked?”
“No. Get over the naked bit. If you want to stay naked, be my guest, but don't flatter yourself by thinking it does anything for me.” Technically, a lie. It was doing a whole lot for me, but nothing I would act on.
“Yeah?” His grin grew. “I’m a wolf, Nadia. You think I can’t smell your arousal?”
Damn. He had me there.
“Okay. Shut up.” I could feel the blood rushing to my face. “Cover yourself then answer me.”
He laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so flustered.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you be such a jerk.” We were wasting time. “Yes. I have, but why were you following me?”
“I wasn’t following you. I was following Dameon.”
His expression seemed open and honest. Was I being stupid? Maybe he wasn’t following me at all. Embarrassment hit me. “Okay. We were doing the same thing.” Not that it mattered. The trail was completely cold.
“What the hell was your brother doing out here with him?”
“What makes you think I know?”
“He’s your brother. Don’t you two tell each other everything?”
“Just because we’re siblings doesn’t mean we tell each other everything.” We used to, but it had been years since North had really confided in me. To be fair, it had also been years since I’d confided in him. Somewhere along the line, we’d slowly began to drift apart.
“You’re not just siblings. You’re twins.”
I groaned. “What is it with everyone and their obsession with us being twins?”
“Everyone?” Ryan’s brows pinched together. “Who else has been talking about that?”
“No one. I mean generally.” I didn’t want him thinking I was obsessing over Dameon—or to give away my hunch that he wanted North and I involved in something serious. The talk of allies had unnerved me.
“Nuh uh.” Ryan shook his head. “You don’t get to toss that comment to the side. You’re talking about someone specific, aren’t you?”
“Drop it. It doesn’t matter. Let’s stick to what’s important.”
“And what’s that?” Ryan was so at ease standing around naked. I should have felt that way too, but I didn’t. I never had.
Sometimes I wished I could be like normal wolves.
“Why Dameon is out here.”
Ryan’s gaze drifted to the woods around us before coming back to rest on me. “Also, why is North out here with him? Come clean with me.”
I thought about my options. I didn’t totally trust Ryan, but I trusted him more than I trusted Dameon. That had to count for something. “He wanted to show us something. There was also talk of making an alliance.”
“An alliance?” Ryan’s forehead furrowed. “Why?”
I sighed. “If I knew, would I be standing out here like this?”
“Where the hell did they go?” He looked deeper into the woods. “I had their scent, and then there was nothing.”
“You witnessed the same thing I did.”
His brows pinched tight as his gaze swept over the surrounding area again. “They couldn't have disappeared. They lost us somehow. We need to find them. We have to run.”
“You mean shift back?” I scoffed. “Why did you make me shift in the first place?”
“Aren’t you the one who is in a rush?” He shifted right there in front of me.
I waited a moment and did the same.
It was getting late. Really late. And the number of rules we were violating was growing. Yet there I went. Running deeper into the woods with Ryan Grayson. Less than twenty-four hours at the Lunar Academy, and I’d completely lost my mind.
Ryan
This was insane. I was running through the woods with Nadia Hazel, trying to find her brother and Dameon—who was easily the most annoying wolf I’d ever met, and who I was now stuck dealing with for the next four years.
Nadia was fast, but I had to keep my pace slower than normal to stay at her side. I didn’t mind, as we had absolutely no clue where we were going other than following the faint whiff of a scent. Or why we were even running. We’d shifted back to our wolves so fast that we hadn’t even discussed what we’d do if we found them.
I tried to focus on the more pressing matter of finding the others, but my thoughts kept going back to the teasing glimpse of skin I’d seen through the trees. And the smell of arousal. Nadia was into me whether she admitted it or not. How hadn’t I noticed her before?
Nadia stopped short. I did the same, watching as she sniffed at something in the leaves.
The scent tickled my nose as a slight breeze kicked up. It was a strange scent. Definitely wolf, but tinged with something else too.
A noise in the distance caught my attention. Was that a bell? Shit. That couldn’t be a good thing. With a quick glance at each other, we turned around and headed back to campus. Once again, I slowed my pace to match hers. Maybe she wouldn’t have cared if I left her behind, but I did.
Something strange had happened back there.
We were nearly back to the edge of the woods when I noticed a figure standing there. Nadia stopped short. The figure started to wave his hands and walk toward us. Finn?
I shifted back to my human form.
“Dude, what the hell are you thinking?” Finn held out clothes to me. “Get changed. Fast.”
Nadia stood stone still in wolf form.
Finn nodded. “Ah. I take it these are yours?” He held out a tank top and shorts.
She used her mouth to pull them from his hand and then ran off. No doubt for privacy.
I was dressed by the time she came back. Admittedly, I would’ve liked to have watched her change so I could catch a glimpse of her body, but the whole tank top without a bra thing she had going on was working for her. It made it easy to fill in the blanks.
“So, which one of you wants to tell me what’s going on?” Finn looked between us.
“What was that sound?”
“What sound?” Finn glared at me like I’d gone nuts.
“It was like a bell. I only heard it once or twice, but it was loud.” Nadia described the same thing I’d heard.
“I didn’t hear a bell.” Finn looked over his shoulder. “Were you guys taking something?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. There was a bell. How did you not hear it?” She looked over at me. “Tell him there was a bell, Ryan.”
“There was a bell.” Or something like one. I’d definitely heard something.
“Okay. So you were running in the woods together hearing bells?” Finn rolled his eyes. “Right.”
Wolf Born: Lunar Academy, Year One Page 2
